Soultrance

Nice job, phreaking skills at work.

I ordered my eXplorist 210 from GPSCity.ca for $199 last week because GPS Central has their price at $229.00 and GPSCity was offering free express post shipping at the time (hooray boxing day!). The website said it was in stock and it was in stock. My order was processed and shipped the next day and I was emailed my tracking number. The GPS was on my doorstep in 3 business days for about $40 cheaper then GPSCentral. The only problem I had in the entire process was with Canada Post. It blows me away how horrible they are at updating their tracking information, especially on something express post. I've never received a package and 20 mins later had the site tell me "It's out for delivery" then a short time after say "delivered". Screwy system. My experience with GPSCity was a good one, I even called them to check on the status once and, though the CSR sounded rather dazed, stoned, or just stupid, he knew what he was talking about and gave me the info I needed. I would have prefered to go with GPSCentral as I've heard nothing but great things about them and would have rather given them my business, but when you lack money a $40 difference in price is enough to drive you to another store.

Cool, that is sort of what I figured. I don't have any normal batteries on hand at the moment so I will have to pick up a set, throw them in and see what the unit has to say. Thanks. p.s. The 210 rocks, hitting first cache in a few hours and I beleive I've got the unit fairly well figured out already, woohoo!

I be sure to keep an eye out for it, though I'm sure someone else will be all over it

Sorry, had to tell someone, lol. I came home from work to the wonderful site of my future wife and my GPS. It took a bit longer then I was expecting it to, but I got it and thats what matters. She's already been taken for a test run in the backyard Look forward to cutting out at lunch time at work tomorrow to hit my first cache, SkyTraining: Waterfront Terminus Station. It's right on the doorstep of my office and I've been eyeing it for a few weeks now... Now I just need to find a way to get on that side of the road. Woohoo!!! 1 Cache to come and many many more to follow. Thanks to everyone that offered help, suggestions and info on units and my questions, your feedback has been a great help. Now all I need is my iPaq and I'll be set. Anyone want to stick one in a cache as a first to find for me?

I just got my eXplorist 210 today, stuck my batteries in and I noticed the same thing, it is saying the batteries are at HALF LIFE, yet they are fully charged and unused. Is this because they are rechargable batteries or is it just an issue with the explorist line? Wonder how long before a firmware update for the 210 comes out.

testy

1 more try

testing avatar

I keep seeing people talking about sig items in various different posts and though I have yet to receive my GPS (stupid canada post), I would love to have a sig. item for when I can finally begin the hunt. When it comes to sig items, are there any guidelines like there are with geocoins and travel bugs? I understand the idea of a signature item but don't know if you're supposed to tag it somehow or just throw it in to every cache you hit until people recognize it. There doesn't happen to be a section of the site for sig items does there?

Very cool idea! Hopefully it will be in the Vancouver area and I'll have my GPS by the time you put it out. If it's near by, will likely track it down even if the PDA is nabbed ) Great idea, awesome FTF prize.

So, I ordered my very first GPS the other day, lovely little eXplorist 210 from GPSCity.ca. I haven't yet received it, but I already know that I want to go paperless as I have wanted a PDA or PocketPC for sometime and now I have an excuse to get one. (o: So, that leads me to my question. What PDA/Pocket PC do you use for paperless caching? Since I'm not going to be using it strictly for Geocaching I'd like to get a unit that has built in Wifi and SD or another kind of expansion. Any suggestions? I've been looking at the HP iPaq line and the Palm Tungsten E2 (which I love, but unfortunately does not come with Wifi). Thanks for any suggestions you kind folk can make and any info you can provide me with. p.s. I hope I get my GPS today! I want to cache this weekend, lol.

First from Vancouver, BC - Canada YAY! dadgum, second from BC though.

I was looking at that one at Staples the other day (o: After playing with it a bit and finding out no WiFi, no expansion and no stylus included (which really threw me, since it does have a touch screen) I decided not to drop the $89 on it and to instead drop $222 on an eXplorist 210 Even though I got $500 for christmas from my grandparents my fiancee would only let me get one or the other, lol. dadgum intelligent women and their sense for using money for things that are needed instead of nice toys and tech... dadgum them all! Thanks a lot for the info so far, surprised to see that almost everyone seems to be using something different, lol. I don't recall who mentioned being able to plug their GPS into one of the older Palm models, but could you let me know what the advantage of this is? This is what I was thinking about when I was looking at PDAs and I wasn't sure if being able to plug it into the GPS itself offered that many extra goodies.

Now that I have my eXplorist 210 on order (thanks to everyone for all the info and suggestions) and I have some green stuff burning a hole in my wallet from christmas, what do you kind folks use for paperless caching? Do you use a PDA or a Pocket PC? What Brand and Model do you use? What functions do you think are essential? Right now I am looking at the Palm Tungsten E2 fairly intently, however, I don't want to spend a bunch of money for a PDA strictly for Geocaching, so I would like to have one that will function well for work and personal purposes as well. Have considered Palm Z22, Palm Zire 31, Palm Tungsten E2 and HP iPaq rx1950. I would like to get one that has a stylus, has memory expansion options, built in or addible wifi and a good battery life. So, what do you use? What would you want to use? What have you used? Let's hear it

The order has been placed. I ordered the Magellan eXplorist 210 from GPSCity.ca for $222, GST and $8 shipping included. If all goes well, I should have my very first gps by the end of this week, beginning of next. I ordered from GPSCity.ca instead of GPSCentral.ca because the 210 is $199 CDN there, instead of $229. Even after paying $8 for shipping from gpscity (when gpscentral had free shipping) I saved around $20. So, as long as it gets here, all will be well and I'll be geocaching soon, yay!

Well, if that were the case, you think the guy would have lowered his price $10, or offered to match other store prices, or offered some kind of insentive to buy it there. If he got sick of spending all the time trying to sell the units to people, only for them to go buy them elsewhere because they're $10 cheaper, you think he'd be smart enough to drop his prices $10 and keep the people buying from him, instead of other stores. Can't expect people to buy from you if you are charging more then other retailers. Online vs Store is different, because online might be cheaper, but store has a lot more advantages. However, if you run a store and are charing more then other stores for the same thing, people will obviously drive a few more blocks and go to the cheaper store.

funny how there is no mention of the 210 on that coupon, even on the NOT FOR section.

Oddly, I haven't actually been to Deakin yet, lol. Went out with the intention of hitting the store one day, but ended up going to the other side of town and hitting Canadian Tire on Cambie, Moutain Equipment Co-Op and 3 Vets (who does carry GPS, for some reason). MECO is where I handled the wonder Explorist line and found what I wanted. I'm pretty sure I am aiming for the Explorist 210 or 400 now and pending on christmas money, or what money I get from selling christmas gifts (the ones I won't use, of course) , I may be able to pick one up from GPSCentral, or better yet, find a store to price match them. However, I've also been looking at and considering eBay as well, seem to be around $40 - $50 less sometimes, but then you have to factor in shipping, shipping time, it's used and not new, no warranty and not from a local retailer. Hopefully I'll roll up enough cash and find a local store that carries the Explorist 210 and if they'll price match for me, awesome! Thanks everyone for all the comments and info, it's been very helpful, nice to know people out there are willing to lend a hand to a n00b and not be all elitist and s***

I think the Magellan Explorist line is actually smaller then the eTrex line, I know for sure they are in length from holding both, they're about the same in width, with the magellan maybe a bit wider, and the same in thickness too. THat's what I intend to do with mine once I get it, strap it to the shoulder strap on my pack

Awesome, thanks very much half-canadian, that is exactly the kind of reply I was looking for. Someone that has used the unit, or a similar one, in the field, has had others to compare it against and can write an informative bit of info in comparison. Just awesome, thanks very much.

Awesome as always. Just like the email guy said, make it weekly! Look forward to the next one.

I've been doing some research and got my hands on a few units at Mountain Equipment Co-Op and I think I have made my decision. I was originally going for one of the SportTrak models, but it just didn't feel that comfy in the hand, nor did the eTrex series, the buttons on the side I'm not a fan of. So, after playing with an Explorist 300 for a bit, I really liked how it felt in my hand, how it fit and how the navigation and such worked (menu wise). So, I am pretty sure i am going to try and pick up a 210, as I obviously need to PC connectivity, but don't want to pay the price jump from 300 to 400, so I'll look into the 210, since the price is more reasonable. Does anyone have and use an Explorist 400, 210 or 300? If so, what do you think of it? Pros, Cons? Any distinctive and very important reason to NOT invest in a 210 or 400? Thanks again for all the info guys, and I know the whole BC Geocaching thing threw everything off to a tangent, but it was rather interesting to read through, gives me a bit of a sense of how things are working in the BC caching crew (o: Thanks folks.

Out of curiosity, what exactly is the point of paying for a membership to that site anyways? If theres nothing of apparent use there, or if it's not being updated or anything, then why charge a mambership. Also, what does a membership get you anyways?

Thanks very much for all the info guys, keep it coming. I'm going to be hitting Deakin, 3 Vets and Mountain Equipment Co-Op tomorrow to take a look and see whats out there. Canada Tire on Cambie has a nice selection of units, but they're all behind glass and in the packages, what good is that? I want to be able to hold the unit, see how it feels in my hand, see if I'll like handling it and if I'll be able to handle and do everything I need to do comfortably and easily. I never actually considered the Explorist line, though reading about them they don't sound bad at all, hopefully I'll find one to get my hands on. Also, to the person that said I should buy it from the store. I totally agree that I should buy it from the store, especially if they're going to help me, talk to me about them and give me some good info, I would love to buy from the store, but not having a great deal of money sets me out to find the best quality for my needs with the least price. And that means researching, going out and checking out units in person to get a feel for them and then buying one online for $50 or more cheaper, usually. Thought I completely agree with you about buying it from a store because they're there to help you and I would if I could afford to do so, but I can't. Thanks again for all the info guys, keep it comin', I'll keep reading this as long as it's got something new